SPEECH 


HON.  JOHN  L.  DAWSON 


OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 


THE  HOMESTEAD  BILL. 


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DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  ON  TUESDAY, 

JANUARY  9,  1855. 


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WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  BY  A.  O.  P.  NICHOLSON. 

1855. 


1  I  '!  !.'?<! 

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3  3U.  1 


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SPEECH. 


The  House  having  under  consideration  the  pending  amendment  to  the  graduation  bill, 
granting  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  to  actual  settlers — 

Mr.  DAWSON  addressed  the  House  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Speaker:  Twice  before  the  present  occasion  it  has  been  my 
fortune,  in  a  somewhat  prominent  sense,  to  be  the  advocate  before  you 
of  the  great  subject  to  which  I  have  again  to  ask  your  attention.  The 
thanks  of  the  country  are  eminently  due  to  this  honorable  body  for  the 
reception  hitherto  bestowed  upon  this  measure,  and  the  warm  support 
which  has  here  been  extended  to  it.  1  am  well  aware  that  the  signal 
favor  which  the  homestead  has  met  at  your  hands  is  in  no  degree  ow¬ 
ing  to  any  merit  in  the  advocacy  of  the  bill,  but  solely  to  its  own  in¬ 
trinsic  excellence.  It  is  yet  appropriate  to  remark  upon  the  ability  and 
eloquence  which  the  measure  has  heretofore  elicited  in  its  support  from 
members  of  this  House,  by  which  its  advantages  have  been  illustrated 
to  the  mind  of  the  country  ;  and  to  hope  that  the  same  ardor  and  una¬ 
nimity  of  sentiment  which  characterized  your  former  action  in  regard 
to  this  subject,  will  be  now  once  more  manifested  in  its  favor. 

It  will  be  recollected,  Mr.  Speaker,  that,  at  the  last  session  of  Con¬ 
gress,  the  bill  commonly  known  -as  the  homestead  bill  was  sent  to  the 
Senate,  sanctioned  b$  the  overwhelming  decision  of  this  House,  and 
that  the  Senate,  avoiding  a  direct  vote  on  its  provisions,  adopted, fin 
lieu  of  it,  the  substitute  of  Mr.  Hunter.  To  that  substitute  there  are 
many  and  grave  objections,  and  it  is  now  my  purpose  to  seek  a  re-es¬ 
tablishment,  with  a  few  alterations,  of  the  original  bill.  An  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  Senate’s  substitute  shows  it  to  be  a  measure  for  the  benefit 
of  States,  railroads,  and  speculators.  Its  adoption  would  be  disastrous 
to  the  purity  of  legislation  in  the  land  States.  Who  does  not  know 
what  a  scramble  would  ensue  in  these  States,  amongst  incorporated 
companies,  to  get  possession  of  the  lands  of  which  that  which  has  been 
carried  on  in  Congress  would  be  but  a  magnified  reflection '?  Wh 
does  not  see  the  innumerable  charters  which,  under  the  influence  of  luc 
rolling  in  the  legislatures,  would  be  brought  forth  to  absord  for  railroad 
purposes  all  the  lands  .in  these  States,  to  the  utter  exclusion  of  the  set¬ 
tler  ;  which  would  cause  immense  quantities  of  bonds  to  be  spawned 
over  the  country,  make  the  competition  for  money  unparalleled,  and  in¬ 
crease  the  rates  of  interest  to  an  unprecedented  extent.  The  starting 
of*so  many  immature  and  impracticable  schemes,  by  creating  a  ficti¬ 
tious  demand  for  labor  and  the  necessaries  of  life,  would  be  most  per  • 
nicious  in  its  influence.  Little  by  little  the  gigantic  bubble  would  con- 


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tinue  to  swell  and  glisten  until  it  should  burst,  and  bankruptcy,  in  its 
most  stupendous  form,  be  the  sequel.  This  is  no  picture  of  fancy,  but  one 
with  which  the  American  public  are  in  fact  unfortunately  too  familiar. 

The  provision  of  the  substitute  which  professes  to  ingraft  the  home¬ 
stead  principle,  viz :  the  eighth  section,  is  a  mockery.  It  apparently 
allows  every  head  of  a  family,  or  male  person  of  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  to  enter  a  quarter-section  of  unappropriated  public  lands,  upon 
the  condition  of  payment  according  to  a  graduated  scale  of  twenty-five 
cents  per  acre.  But  whether  the  settler  shall  be  able  to  take  any  ad¬ 
vantage  at  all  of  this  provision,  depends  upon  the  adoption,  or  other¬ 
wise,' by  the  States,  of  this  provision  of  the  Senate’s  substitute;  since 
the  States  have  the  privilege,  under  another  section,  of  acquiring  the  ab¬ 
solute  right  to  the  public  lands  within  their  limits ;  and  of  disposing  of 
them,  and  at  such  higher  prices  as  their  wisdom  shall  direct,  thus  su¬ 
perseding  the  claim  of  the  settler  entirely.  It  is,  at  all  events,  manifest, 
that  this  graduation  feature  is  one  for  the  benefit  of  capitalists.  Its  ef¬ 
fect  will  be  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  such  men  millions  of  acres  which 
will  remain  in  a  wilderness  condition,  it  may  be,  for  centuries,  thus  de¬ 
feating  the  settlement  of  the  country,  and  tending  to  build  up  a  landed 
aristocracy.  It  is  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  policy  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  of 
destroying  the  rights  of  primogeniture  and  entail,  and  the  removal  of 
all  unjust  restrictions  which  tend  to  tie  up  property  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  cultivator.  It  will  be  an  approximation,  so  far  as  the  different 
genius  of  the  two  governments  will  allow,  of  the  policy  of  the  British 
government,  which  has  at  length  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  some 
thirty  thousand  individuals,  all  the  landed  property  of  the  kingdom. 

'The  reason  for  the  policy  of  graduating  and  reducing  the  price  of  the 
public  lands  was  in  order  that,  by  promoting  large  sales,  the  govern¬ 
ment  might  be  better  enabled  to  discharge  the  public  debt;  but  with  the 
extinguishment  of  all  the  old  debt,  an  inconsiderable  existing  debt  and 
an  overflowing  treasury,  this  reason  has  ceased.  There  being  now  no 
need  of  revenue  from  the  lands,  there  should  be  a  Reversal  of  this  poli¬ 
cy,  and  the  lands  so  disposed  of  as  best  to  promote  settlement,  and  thus 
subserve  the  general  interests  of  the  country.  The  revenue  from  the 
customs  is  already  more  than  sufficient  to  support  the  government ;  and 
perhaps  the  greatest  evils  of  our  present  political  condition  are  those 
resulting  from  the  struggles  to  get  possession  of  the  surplus  of  the  treas¬ 
ury.  The  true  policy  of  the  country  is  a  poor  treasury  and  a  rich  people. 

I  feel,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  once  more  approaching  this  question,  that  we 
have  already  exhausted  upon  it  the  resources  of  argument.  I  propose, 
at  this  time,  only  a  few  remarks,  such  as  seem  warranted  by  a  review 
.  of  the  whole  question,  by  the  light  of  the  recent  searching  discussion 
which  it  has  undergone  in  the  coordinate  branch  of  the  national  legis¬ 
lature.  So  far  from  sinking,  in  any  degree,  under  the  weight  of  that  dis¬ 
cussion,  I  trust  it  is  now  apparent  that  at  no  time  has  this  measure  oc¬ 
cupied  a  stronger  position  before  the  country  than  at  present.  A  combi¬ 
nation  of  untoward  circumstances,  quite  unconnected  with  the  merits  ot 
the  homestead,  have,  for  a  time,  interfered  to  prevent  its  passage  by 
the  Senate;  but  the  “  still  small  voice”  of  the  people,  speaking  in  the 
calm  majesty  of  might  and  justice,  is  already  rising  above  the  jar  of 
sectional  and  partisan  interests,  and  insisting  upon  the  adoption  into  the 


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legal  policy  of  the  country  of  this,  their  favorite  measure.  Once  more 
let  us  discharge  our  dut}T  towards  it.  Let  us  calmly  place  before  our 
fellow-citizens  the  grounds  upon  which  rest  the  justice  and  policy  of  the 
homestead,  and  give  it  the  sanction  of  our  decided  approval;  and  we 
can  afford  to  wait  the  subsidence  of  these  elements  of  opposition, 
which,  varied  and  conflicting  in  their  nature,  are  destined  to  a  brief  du¬ 
ration.  A  persevering,  earnest,  and  steady  support,  is  what  the  coun¬ 
try  looks  for  at  our  hands — is  what  she  has  a  right  to  expect — and  will 
finally  enable  us  to  prevail. 

It  may  be  thought,  indeed,  by  some,  that  the  passage,  at  the  late  ses¬ 
sion,  of  the  land  graduation  bill,  has  taken  away  much  pretext  for  the 
further  pressure  of  the  homestead,  and  has  accomplished  all  that  could 
be  desired  or  hoped  for  by  the  friends  of  that  measure.  Surely,  nothing 
can  be  further  from  the  truth.  It  mav  be  admitted,  indeed,  that  the 
enactment  of  that  bill  was  advancing  a  step  in  the  right  direction;  but 
how  limited  the  benefits  it  confers  in  comparison  with  those  sought  by 
the  measure  under  consideration.  It  is  seen  at  once  that,  except  as  re¬ 
gards  lands  which  have  been  ten  years  in  market,  the  old  land  system 
remains  unchanged  by  the  graduation  bill — a  feature  which  renders  it 
inapplicable  to  much  of  the  land  in  the  land  States,  and  entirely  so  to 
that  of  the  Territories.  It  is  seen  further,  that  as  regards  that  class  of 
lands  which  has  been  ten  years  in  market,  the  reduction  is  only  twen¬ 
ty-five  cents  an  acre — a  reduction  which,  as  regards  the  class  of  set¬ 
tlers  sought  to  be  benefited  by  the  provisions  of  the  homestead,  is  quite 
too  insignificant  to  be  appreciated.  The  further  reductions  to  seventh7  - 
five,  fifty,  twenty-five,  and  twelve  and  a-half  cents  an  acre — according 
as  the  lands  have  been  fifteen,  twenty,  twenty-five,  and  thirty  years  in 
market — are  still  liable  to  the  same  objection.  It  is  only  when  the  lands 
have  been  thirty  years  subject  to  private  entry,  and,  in  consequence,  are 
reduced  to  the  minimum  rate  provided  by  the  graduation  bill,  that  the 
benefit  becomes  appreciable  for  that  large  class  of  settlers  for  whom  the 
homestead  bill  was  intended  chiefly  to  provide.  The  conditions,  how¬ 
ever,  under  which  the  public  lands  become  reduced  to  the  lowest  rates, 
are  such  as  to  limit  it  to  the  smallest  and  most  worthless  portions  of  the 
lands  in  the  States,  and  in  the  Territories  it  can  have  no  application 
at  all,  and  that,  therefore,  the  great  objects  sought  by  the  homestead 
remain  still  to  be  accomplished. 

Let  us  proceed,  however,  to  notice  the  few  objections  which,  in  the 
scrutinizing  analysis  which  the  subject  has  recently  undergone  in  the 
other  wing  of  the  Capitol,  senators  have  thought  proper  to  insist  upon 
against  the  principles  of  the  homestead  bill.  Thus,  it  has  been  con¬ 
tended  by  certain  senators  of  the  old  States  that  the  public  lands  not  ac¬ 
quired  since  the  deeds  of  cession  cannot  be  disposed  of,  except  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  the  conditions  of  these  instruments  ;  and  that,  as  regards 
subsequent  acquisitions,  the  distinction  proposed  by  this  bill  would  be 
unequal,  and  therefore  unjust.  It  can  be  successfully  shown,  however, 
as  regards  the  first  branch  of  this  proposition,  that,  in  order  to  comply 
with  that  requirement  of  the  deeds  of  cession,  that  the  lands  ceded 
should  be  regarded  as  “a  common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such 
of  the  United  States  as  have  become,  or  shall  become,  members  of  the 
confederation  or  federal  alliance  of  the  United  States,  according  to  their 


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usual  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,”  that  it  is  ne¬ 
cessary  to  have  reference  to  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  eighth  arti¬ 
cle  of  the  constitution  of  the  confederation,  namely:  that  the  proceeds 
from  these  lands  “should  be  paid  into  the  national  treasury  according 
to  the  amount  of  real  estate  held  in  private  hands  in  each  State ;  and  if 
any  portion  remain  unexpended,  that  it  shall  be  paid  back,  in  the  same 
proportion,  to  the  States  from  which  collected,”  and  not  distributed 
through  the  treasury  for  general  purposes. 

Such  was  the  rule  under  the  confederation,  but  it  is  evident  that  un¬ 
der  the  present  constitution  it  is  wTolly  inapplicable,  and  impossible  to 
be  carried  into  effect.  The  revenue  of  the  country,  whether  collected 
from  the  customs  or  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  is  paid  into  the  na¬ 
tional  treasury,  without  any  reference  to  the  rule  embodied  in  the  deeds 
of  cession,  and  is  applied  for  the  “general  welfare”  under  the  limita¬ 
tions  imposed  by  the  constitution  of  17S9,  and  without  any  reference  to 
the  eighth  article  of  that  of  the  confederation.  It  is  no  longer  possible 
to  ascertain  the  proportion  of  each  State  in  the  “general  charge  and 
expenditure  ” — that  phrase  having  relation  to  a  status  which  has  been 
wholly  changed  by  the  new  constitution — and  no  longer  possible  in 
the  same  way  to  pay  back  to  the  several  States,  parties  to  the  “fede¬ 
ral  alliance,”  the  surplus  over  the  expenditures  fixed  by  Congress. 

It  can  be  maintained,  on  the  other  hand,  with  irresistible  strength  of 
argument,  that  the  States  which  were  parties  to  the  deeds  of  cession 
were  also  parties  to  the  constitution  of  1789 — an  article  of  which  confers 
the  amplest  powers  of  disposal  of  the  public  lands,  which  the  passage  of 
the  homestead  calls  for.  So  incontrovertible  is  this  fact,  and  so  complete 
is  the  abrogation  by  the  present  constitution  of  all  conditions  precedent 
in  the  deeds  of  cession,  that  it  can  hardly  again  be  drawn  into  question. 

As  to  the  principles  of  the  homestead  being  unjust  to  the  old  States, 
as  regards  the  territory  acquired  since  the  deeds  of  cession,  the  objection 
will  scarcely  be  deemed  tenable — the  subsequent  acquisitions  having 
been  made  subject  to  all  the  conditions  and  limitations  of  the  constitution, 
and  falling,  therefore,  under  the  same  rule  of  distribution.  Besides,  it  is 
to  be  remembered,  that  the  old  States  have  originally  received  grants  of 
the  lands  within  their  limits,  and  have  since  converted  and  applied  the 
proceeds.  They  have  been  also,  and  still  continue,  the  objects  of  govern¬ 
ment  bounty  in  other  ways.  Have  not  liberal  appropriations  been 
made,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  in 
the  old  States ?  Has  not  the  public  money  been  expended  there  pro¬ 
fusely  for  the  construction  of  light-houses,  coast  defences,  and  public 
edifices  ?  And  have  they7  not  been  the  greatest  sharers  in  all  the  great 
measures  of  legislation  which  mark  the  history  of  the  country  ?  If  we 
speak  only  of  the  States  of  Aew  England,  and  the  sugar-growing  States 
of  the  South,  have  they  not  been  the  greatest  gainers  by  the  system  of 
high  duties '?  But  it  is  impossible,  by  the  same  act  of  legislation,  to 
benefit,  in  the  same  degree,  a  new  country  in  the  wdlderness  and  States 
which  have  a  dense  population,  with  few  unoccupied  lands.  It  is,  how¬ 
ever,  sufficient  to  prove  the  impartial  and  paternal  character  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  if  all  interests  are  duly  remembered  and  benefited  in  turn. 

But  again,  when  we  speak  of  benefiting  the  old  States,  surely  we 
mean  the  people  of  those  States,  and  not  anything  whatever  of  an  inan- 


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imate  nature,  whether  mountain  or  plain,  field  or  forest,  town  or  country. 
If  so,  the  homestead  is  a  measure  in  which  the  people  of  the  old  States 
will  participate  the  most  largely,  because  they  have  the  largest  number 
within  their  limits  who  can  take  advantage  of  its  provisions.  I  know' 
indeed  that  this  very  circumstance  is  made  an  objection  to  the  home¬ 
stead,  because  it  is  pronounced  a  temptation,  an  inducement,  to  a  large 
class  of  the  people  of  the  old  States  to  settle  on  the  public  domain. 

But,  if  it  be  true  that  portions  of  the  valuable  citizens,  wThether  native 
or  foreign,  of  the  old  States,  shall  feel  inducements  presented  them 
by  this  bill  to  emigration,  is  it  any  reason  for  withholding  such  induce¬ 
ments,  that  the  landholders  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  would  thereby  be  deprived,  to  some  extent,  of  their  tenants,  or 
that  the  demand  for  farms  might  be  somewhat  less  active  ?  Have  the 
rights  of  labor  no  claims  to  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  National  Legis¬ 
lature,  except  as  secondary  and  subsidiary  to  those  of  landholders  ? 
Sir,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  my  reflections  upon  this  subject  have  led 
me  to  very  different  conclusions.  I  am  of  opinion  that  government, 
then,  best  discharges  its  multifarious  and  responsible  duties,  as  far  as 
practicable  and  legitimate,  within  the  scope  of  its  powers,  by  advanc¬ 
ing  every  interest  under  its  control.  Sir,  I  feel  convinced  that  no  such 
remnant  of  feudal  bondage,  no  such  slavish  doctrine  as  would  tie  the 
tenant  to  the  soil  of  his  employer,  will  ever  find  sanction  in  the  free 
hearts  of  this  land.  Our  ancestors  had  done  with  all  that  centuries  ago, 
in  the  mother  country,  when,  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I,  through 
that  of  Henry  VII,  and  in  that  of  Charles  I,  they  finally  succeeded  in 
extinguishing  the  tenure  of  villemge ,  and  converted  all  lands  in  the 
Kingdom  into  free  and  common  socage.  The  legal  systems  of  these 
States  recognise  nothing  else.  Our  theory  of  social  rights,  embodied  in 
that  immortal  preamble  of  Jefferson,  recognises  nothing  else 

The  assumption,  however,  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  would,  for  a 
time,  operate  unequally  towards  the  old  States  by  reducing  the  price  of 
property  there,  is  not  well  founded.  Surely  such  a  consequence  would 
not  be  more  likely  to  follow  this  measure  than  it  Avould  the  preemption 
system.  Whatever  irregularity  might  be  the  result  of  the  introduction 
of  the  new  polic}^,  I  believe  it  would  be  of  brief  duration,  and  quite  in¬ 
appreciable.  Such  are  the  energies  of  industry — such  the  stimulus  of 
free  institutions,  that  no  field  of  enterprise  will  long  remain  unoccupied. 
The  flood  of  prosperity  which  is  continually  rolling  over  the  land,  like 
water,  is  ever  tending  to  a  uniform  level. 

But  to  dispel  the  apprehensions  of  gentlemen,  let  us  refer  to  the  re¬ 
ality  of  things  as  exhibited  by  the  experience  of  the  country  for  the 
last  seven  years.  A  period  of  unprecedented  prosperity  in  the  depart¬ 
ments  of  commerce,  agriculture,  and  internal  improvements — in  which 
so  many  avenues  of  intercourse  have  been  constructed  betw'een  the 
seaboard  and  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and 
in  which  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty-five  millions  of  acres  of  the 
public  lands  have  been  disposed  of,  a  good  portion  of  which  has  been 
reduced  under  cultivation — there  never  was  a  period  in  which  the 
prices  of  produce  and  real  estate  in  the  old  States  have  been  better 
maintained.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  vast  amount  of  the  products 
of  the  interior  which  have  been  brought  into  competition  with  those  of 


8 


the  old  States,  and  notwithstanding  the  mighty  stream  of  emigration  to 
the  W  est,  by  which  their  population  has  been  annually  carried  off,  the 
effect  upon  prices  has  not  only  been  wholly  unfelt,  but  the  latter  have 
even  continued  to  advance. 

A  kindre  objection  to  the  last,  is  that  which  represents  the  free 
grants  proposed  by  this  bill  as  doing  injustice  to  those  who  have  here¬ 
tofore  purchased  of  government,  at  $2  and  $1  25  per  acre.  Here  you 
make  a  distinction,  it  is  said,  which  works  injustice  to  former  purchas¬ 
ers.  But  you  made  the  same  distinction,  and  created  an  inequality 
which  worked  the  same  injustice,  when  you  reduced  the  price  of  the 
lands  from  $2  to  Si  25  per  acre;  and  still  later,  when,  at  the  last  ses¬ 
sion,  you  passed  the  land  graduation  bill.  By  this  argument,  whatever 
policy  in  regard  to  our  land  system  we  may  first,  by  accident,  have 
stumbled  upon,  that,  with  unchangeable  tenacity,  should  be  maintained. 
Such  an  argument  is  of  no  avail.  You  cannot  tie  up  the  hands  of  your 
successors  in  legislation  ;  and  the  policy  which  is  good  for  one  genera¬ 
tion  ma}7  be  totally  unadapted  to  the  next.  “  Tempora  mvtantur ,  et  nos 
mutamur  in  Mis.”  The  times  change,  and  we  with  them.  Doubtless,  the 
feudal  system,  in  the  warlike  times  in  which  it  flourished,  in  the  middle 
ages,  was  a  wise  and  useful  institution.  So,  in  the  condition  of  things 
existing  in  Europe,  a  monarchy  in  some  form  may  be  the  best  govern¬ 
ment  lor  any  given  nation  ;  though  the  progress  of  ideas,  and  of  social 
amelioration,  may  in  the  next  age  find  it  obsolete  and  functus  officio. 
Sir,  it  is  one  thing  to  require  a  price  for  your  domain,  when  the  country 
is  in  need  of  a  revenue,  and  another  and  quite  different  one  to  give  it  free 
to  actual  settlers,  when  it  is  no  longer  needed  for  revenue,  and  in  order  to 
carry  out  a  great  scheme  of  policy  not  less  favorable  to  individuals  than 
to  all  the  great  interests  of  the  country — a  policy  which,  more  than  any 
other,  will  offer  its  appropriate  inducements  to  labor;  will  build  up  into 
organized  societies  the  untenanted  wilderness,  and  people  the  solitary 
leagues  of  fertile  soil  which  stretch  away  from  the  confines  of  the  States 
to  the  Western  ocean. 

It  was  insisted  with  much  earnestness  by  a  distinguished  Senator 
from  Delaware,  [Mr.  Clayton,]  that  this  is  a  partial  measure;  that  it 
is  class  legislation ;  that  all  men  cannot  turn  farmers;  and  that,  there¬ 
fore,  in  order  to  equalize  your  bounty,  you  should  grant  money  to  those 
who  cannot  use  land.  But,  tried  by  the  test,  it  may  safely  be  said, 
that  never  has  a  law  of  a  beneficial  character  obtained  a  place  upon 
your  statute-book,  but  what  the  interests  for  which  it  provided  have 
been  partial  and  limited.  If  this  is  a  true  objection,  let  me  ask  once 
more,  does  it  not  lie  just  as  strongly  against  the  preemption  system'? 
Does  it  not  lie  just  as  strongly  against  a  bill  for  the  benefit  of  manufac¬ 
turers? — for  the  benefit  of  soldiers  and  marines? — or  for  a  bill  raising 
the  salaries  of  judges?  If  a  man  desires  the  special  benefits  of  this 
legislation,  let  him  bring  himself  within  the  class  upon  which  the  bounty 
is  conferred.  Let  him  fight  the  battles  of  his  country  ;  let  him  engage 
in  the  working  of  metals  or  the  spinning  of  cotton ;  in  the  culture  of 
cane  and  the  boiling  of  sugar;  or  let  him  become  a  dignitary  of  the 
bench,  and  he  will  share  directly  in  the  benefits  of  the  legislation,  if  it 
be  special.  These  are  all  staple  interests  of  the  country,  and  it  is 
competent  for  all  to  engage-in  them  without  let  or  hindrance.  Who 


9 


ever  thought  of  making  it  an  objection  to  the  law  allowing  land  bounty 
to  the  widows  of  soldiers,  that  unmarried  women  could  receive  no  bene¬ 
fit  therefrom?  Who  ever  objected  to  the  imposition  of  a  forty  per  centum 
duty  upon  iron,  that  it  did  not  benefit  the  boiler  of  salt?  Or,  who  ever 
considered  it  doing  injustice  to  the  rest  of  the  community  that  }mu  ap¬ 
propriate  money  for  the  construction  of  marine  hospitals,  open  only  to 
seamen  or  boatmen? 

Sir,  the  objection  that  the  homestead  will  not  directly  benefit  every 
class  of  industry  in  the  country,  and  in  equal  degree,  is  of  a  kind  similar 
to  that  in  the  instances  just  mentioned;  and  it  is  equally  futile  in  all. 
Every  man,  whether  rich  or  poor,  has  the  power  or  privilege,  if  his  cir¬ 
cumstances  will  permit  him — of  which,  as  in  other  cases,  he  is  left  to 
be  the  judge — of  becoming  an  actual  settler  on  the  public  domain, 
and  thus  participating  directly  in  the  benefits  conferred  by  this  bill. 
We  claim  it,  however,  as  a  most  positive  and  favorable  distinction  of 
this  measure — which  regards  the  cultivation  of  new  soil,  and  bringing 
under  civilizing  influences  new  territory — that  it  does  benefit,  not  the 
less  surely  and  decidedly,  because  indirectly,  the  great  interests  of 
manufactures  and  commerce,  and  in  a  higher  degree  than  any  other 
special  measure  whatever. 

Another  ground  of  opposition,  much  insisted  on  by  distinguished 
Senators,  is  the  favor  shown  by  the  bill  to  American  residents  of  foreign 
birth.  But  what  is  the  condition  of  things  under  the  existing  system? 
Foreigners,  not  even  citizens,  are  allowed  to  settle  on  the  public  lands 
under  the  pre-emption  laws  of  1S30  and  1S41,  and  it  has  been  deemed 
sufficient  if  they  have  become  citizens  at  the  reception  of  the  patent  for 
their  locations.  And  by  the  very  liberal  provisions  of  the  graduation 
bill  passed  at  the  last  session,  and  approved  August  4,  1S54,  “  any 
person”  can  enter  as  an  occupant,  and  settle  upon  the  lands,  and  ac¬ 
quire  a  title  and  patent  at  the  graduated  and  reduced  rates.  Upon 
what  reasons  of  policy,  of  justice,  of  humanity,  should  more  rigorous 
conditions  be  imposed  upon  any  of  the  objects  upon  whom  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  this  bill  will  operate?  Is  it  proposed  to  exclude  foreigners 
altogether?  Then  you  must  repeal  the  naturalization  laws,  and  adopt 
a  policy  worthy  of  ancient  Egypt,  or  modern  Japan.  But  let  us  be 
careful,  in  doing  so,  that  we  belie  not  the  great  principles  which  lie  at 
the  basis  of  our  government,  and  that  we  prove  not  ungrateful  to  the 
memories  of  our  fathers,  and  to  those  noble  and  self-sacrificing  spirits 
who  were  prodigal  alike  of  their  money  and  their  blood,  throughout  the 
two  wars  which  secured  us  in  the  establishment  of  our  independence ; 
and  to  the  thousands  who  since  have  come  to  cast  their  lots  with  ours, 
incorporating  themselves  with  us,  becoming  assimilated  to  our  institu¬ 
tions  and  usages,  and  infusing  an  element  of  incalculable  strength  into 
our  republican  system. 

I  believe,  sir,  that  it  is  a  futile  notion  that,  by  any  policy  short  of  a 
repeal  of  the  naturalization  laws,  and  perhaps  even  a  prohibition  to 
the  exile  of  a  “  home  and  a  country,”  you  will  be  able  to  stop  the  in¬ 
flux  of  foreigners.  The  premium  held  out  by  our  republican  institu¬ 
tions  will  attract  crowds,  till  the  population  of  the  continents  shall  at 
last  be  equalized.  You  cannot  stay  this  resistless  wave  of  immigration. 
The  over-crowded  districts  of  the  Old  World  will  heave  it  upward  and 


10 


onward,  and  it  must  struggle  for  a  subsistence  and  a  home.  It  is,  then, 
far  more  philosophical  to  seek  such  a  disposition  of  it  as,  from  a  source 
of  mischievous  irritation,  shall  convert  it  into  one  of  profit  to  the  State  ; 
and,  while  assimilating  it  to  our  institutions,  shall  make  it  tributary  to 
the  general  prosperity. 

It  has,  again,  suited  the  purposes  of  the  opponents  of  the  bill  to  view 
it  as  designed  to  offer  bounties  to  interfere  with  the  natural  course  of 
industry,  converting  the  followers  of  commercial  pursuits  and  mechanics 
into  farmers ;  and  great  evils  have  been  predicted  to  follow  from  this 
disruption  of  old  pursuits.  The  farmer,  it  is  said,  will  not  only  have 
his  land  cheapened  in  the  old  States,  by  the  withdrawal  of  popu¬ 
lation,  but  the  price  of  produce  will  be  reduced  by  the  competition  of 
the  number  of  those  who  have  turned  farmers.  In  this  anticipation, 
however,  no  account  is  taken  of  the  overstocking  of  trades,  professions, 
and  business  pursuits,  and  by  the  numbers  which  the  advance  of  each 
fresh  generation  is  annually  pouring  in  their  ranks.  Poverty  and  want 
are  the  inevitable  result  to  large  numbers.  "By  this  bill,  we  only  pro¬ 
vide  a  refuge  for  this  surplus,  where  by  the  “  sweat  of  the  brow”  they 
may,  at  least,  obtain  a  livelihood ;  for  agriculture,  as  a  pursuit,  has  this 
favorable  peculiarity,  that  it  enables  its  followers  to  obtain  the  means 
of  living,  if  it  does  not  furnish  them  with  any  great  surplus  for  ex¬ 
change.  While,  in  other  callings,  the  ability  of  an  individual  to  sus¬ 
tain  himself  depends  upon  the  quantity  of  his  peculiar  products  which 
may  be  wanted  by  others,  the  agriculturist  can  live  in  a  great  measure 
on  what  he  produces.  Sir,  if  the  prosperity  of  the  old  States  depends 
upon  a  large  surplus  of  poor  population,  so  that  labor  shall  be  cheap 
and  abundant,  and  if  we  are  called  upon  to  sustain  this  prosperity  by 
so  shaping  our  legislation  as  that  the  masses  shall  be  kept  ground  down 
to  the  earth,  I,  for  one,  shall  ever  protest  against  the  wrong.  I  prefer, 
rather,  a  policy  in  accordance  with  the  noble  sentiment  of  the  poet ; 
“ Fiat  j'icstitia  ruat  coclum .”  Let  justice  be  done,  though  the  heavens  fall. 

But  the  argument  against  the  bill  on  the  ground  of  injury  to  the  old 
States,  in  the  several  phases  in  which  we  have  considered  it,  is  not 
borne  out  by  the  facts.  It  is  shown,  incontrovertibly,  by  statistics,  that 
while  the  western  Si  ates  have  been  forming,  the  progress  of  the  old  States 
in  wealth  and  population  has  been  proportionate.  An  examination  of  the 
facts  thus  collected,  discloses  the  interesting  truth,  that  while  in  the  last 
ten  years  the  old  States  have  advanced  in  population  one  hundred  per 
centum  faster  than  the  most  flourishing  of  the  European  States,  the  land 
States  have,  at  the  same  time,  received  from  them  more  than  one-fourth 
of  their  whole  population.  There  is,  in  truth,  no  antagonism  ;  and  it  is 
in  vain  that  the  opponents  of  the  measure  would  attempt  to  create  an}r. 
A  benefit  conferred  upon  one  State  is  quickly  diffused  among  all — thus 
resembling  mercy  in  the  quality  ascribed  to  it  by  the  great  dramatist. 

A  Senator  from  Delaware,  [Mr.  Bayard,]  distinguished  alike  for  his 
learning  and  legal  acumen,  has  been  pleased  to  term  the  measure  “an 
illusion;”  mark  the  words,  sir,  “an  illusion” — there  is  nothing  in  it,  he 
says,  “it  is  all  an  illusion.”  I  have  no  doubt,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  to  the 
Jacobites  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  abdication  of  James  the  I, 
and  the  accession  of  William  of  Orange,  seemed  at  first  “an  illusion  ” 
But  the  succession  of  one  line  of  the  Stuarts  was  then  broken,  and  the 


11 


House  of  Hanover  is  still  upon  the  throne  of  England.  No  doubt,  when 
it  was  first  urged,  the  claim  of  the  Americans  to  the  right  of  taxing 
themselves  seemed  to  the  whole  people  of  England  an  “illusion,”  as 
did  the  plan  of  independence  to  the  royalists  in  the  Revolution  ;  but  this 
right  has  lately  received  a  formal  acknowledgment  b}’  the  House  of 
Lords  with  reference  to  Canada,  and  our  independence  has  long  been 
firmly  established.  Later  still,  the  project  of  Catholic  emancipation 
was,  for  years,  deemed  by  Lord  Eldon,  and  other  tory  leaders  in  the 
Lords,  as  an  “  illusion  but  the  Catholic  relief  bill  is  upon  the  statute- 
book  as  a  law*  of  the  British  realm.  Illusions,  too,  were  regarded,  no 
doubt,  the  projects  for  reform  in  the  English  system  of  representation 
and  the  corn  laws  ;  yet  everything  necessary  for  the  security  of  popular 
rights,  in  regard  to  these  subjects,  has  been  yielded  to  the  perseverance 
of  the  people,  supported  by  a  great  and  just  cause. 

A  distinguished  Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  [Mr.  Brodhead,]  has 
been  pleased  to  plant  himself  in  decided  opposition  to  the  measure  upon 
the  ground  of  constitutional  difficulties,  and  upon  a  variety  of  other 
grounds,  which  he  rather  touches  upon  than  develops.  My  answrer  to 
the  Senator’s  speech  shall  be  brief  and  to  the  point. 

On  the  constitutional  topic,  I  will,  in  the  first  place,  cite  the  third 
section  of  the  fourth  article:  “  Congress  shall  have  the  power  to  dispose 
of, \  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting,  the  territory 
and  other  property  of  the  United  States.”  I  will  next  refer  to  the  prac¬ 
tice  ofthe  government  under  this  provision,  and  will  point  to  the  incor¬ 
poration  of  the  homestead  principle  in  the  bills  for  the  organization  of 
the  Territories  of  Oregon  and  New  Mexico.  In  illustration  of  the  exer¬ 
cise  by  Congress  ofthe  general  right  to  dispose  of  the  public  lands,  I 
would  instance,  also,  the  grants  to  railroads  and  for  school  purposes, 
for  the  construction  of  canals,  the  improvement  of  navigable  streams, 
and  internal  improvements,  &c.,  which,  in  the  aggregate,  are  found  to 
have  amounted,  on  the  30th  September,  1S54,  to  more  than  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  millions  of  acres. 

I  would  next  instance,  in  support  of  the  same  power,  the  opinions  of 
the  most  eminent  for  ability  and  patriotism,  and  the  most  popular  of 
our  statesmen,  living  and  departed.  I  would  mention,  as  names  which- 
have  sustained  the  theory  and  approved  the  practice,  those  of  Jefferson, 
who  proposed  the  settlement  of  a  portion  of  the  Louisiana  purchase 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  by  conditional  grants  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land — of  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet,  of  whom  were 
Calhoun  and  Crawford,  who,  in  1819,  approved  the  giant  to  the  Con¬ 
necticut  asylum,  of  lands  in  Kentucky;  and  that  of  James  K.  Polk, 
who  approved  the  incorporation  of  the  homestead  principle  directly  in 
the  act  erecting  the  Territory  of  Oregon.  I  would  refer,  for  the  same 
purpose,  to  that  of  F ranklin  Pierce,  in  his  approval  of  an  act  passed  at 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  making  gratuitous  grants  of  lands  to  actual 
settlers  in  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico.  I  would  also  refer  to  the  grant 
made  to  Isaac  Zane,  during  the  administration  of  Washington,  of  three 
tracts  of  land,  for  blazing  a  bridle-path  from  Wheeling  to  Maysville, 
Kentucky;  to  the  Florida  settlement  law,  granting  a  quarter-section  of 
land  on  condition  of  occupancy  for  the  term  of  three  years ;  to  the 
law  of  1791,  by  wrhich  grants  of  land  were  made  to  settlers  at  Yincen- 


12 


nes  ;  to  the  act  of  1792,  by  which  grants  were  made  to  the  Ohio  com- 
pan}^  for  actual  settlers  ;  and  to  the  law  of  1795,  making  a  similar  pro¬ 
vision  for  settlers  at  Galliopolis.  The  principle  has  had  the  judgment 
and  sanction  of  Jackson  and  Webster — names  above  suspicion  for 
ability  and  patriotism — and  is  sustained  by  the  highest  authority  of  our 
living  patriots  and  statesmen.  The  constitutional  right  of  Congress  to 
dispose  of  the  lands  in  such  way  as  their  judgment  may  approve,  is  in 
clear  and  explicit  language  ;  and  in  the  face  of  the  unlimited  exercise  of 
the  power,  from  the  foundation  of  the  government  to  the  present  time, 
there  is  no  man  who  can  wink  so  fast  that  he  cannot  see  it. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  none  but  “  drunkards  and  loafers”  will  take 
advantage  of  this  bill;  that  its  benefits  will  inure  almost  exclusively 
to  that  class  of  our  citizens.  And  is  it  to  terms  like  these,  stigmatiz¬ 
ing  as  criminal  and  subjecting  to  ridicule  the  misfortunes  of  a  portion 
of  our  countrymen,  that  we  are  called  upon  to  listen  as  to  overwhelm¬ 
ing  arguments  against  the  policy  of  this  measure?  Abusive  and  de¬ 
preciating  epithets  are  cheap,  and  ask  not  the  aid  of  talents  to  give 
them  point  and  effect.  Their  empkyment,  on  the  contrary,  argues  the 
want  of  better  capital  for  the  service.  The  same  style  of  argument 
w*as  employed  against  the°principle  of  free  government,  the  great  prin¬ 
ciple  of  political  and  civil  equality  as  proclaimed  by  Jefferson  ;  and 
even  the  benign  religion  of  Christianity  was  derided  in  the  persons  of 
the  humble  fishermen  who  were  its  first  propagators. 

The  class  of  men  for  whom  this  bill  is  intended  to  provide  are  not 
“  drunkards  and  loafers.”  They  are  the  same  class  who,  under  Wash¬ 
ington,  in  1776,  erected  the  batteries  upon  the  heights  of  Dorchester, 
and  entered  the  town  of  Boston  as  General  Howe  withdrew.  They 
are  the  same  who,  in  the  trying  march  from  field  to  field,  never  lost  a 
spark  of  their  patriotic  devotion,  but,  in  the  hour  of  disaster,  like  their 
gallant  leader,  still  cast  their  eyes  to  the  mountains  as  the  dernier  resort 
and  final  refuge  of  their  liberties.  With  Washington  they  fought  brave¬ 
ly  at  Brandywine  and  Valley  Forge,  and  witnessed,  with  him,  the  sur¬ 
render  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown — the  closing  scene  of  the  Revolution. 
They  are  the  same  class  who,  afterwards,  in  the  struggle  which  began 
in  1812,  in  which  the  young  America  was  again  called  upon  to  contend 
with  the  power  of  England  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  were  found  by 
the  side  of  Jackson,  at  New  Orleans,  braving,  with  dauntless  breasts, 
the  British  bullets  and  bayonets,  and  sending  up  the  victorious  shout 
from  under  that  glorious  banner  which  they  had  borne  to  immortal 
triumph.  They  are  the  same  who,  with  General  Taylor,  gathered  unfa¬ 
ding  laurels  upon  the  deadly  field  of  Buena  Vista ;  who  landed  with  Scott 
at  Vera  Cruz,  and  accompanied  him  in  his  heroic  march  through  the 
valley  of  Mexico  to  the  gates  of  the  city;  and  they  are  the  same  who, 
under  its  beetling  walls,  having  extinguished,  by  sure  aim,  the  lights 
upon  the  ramparts,  fought  afterwards  through  the  gloom  and  confusion 
of  night,  and  until  the  broad  splendors  of  the  meridian  sun  shone  upon 
their  flag  of  victory  waving  over  the  Plaza.  They  are  not  “  drunkards 
and  loafers,”  but  of  that  class  who,  in  time  of  peace,  turn  the  furrow 
and  gather  the  harvest,  and  who  constitute  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
land  from  Maine  to  Texas.  They  are  the  men  who  repel  savage  vio¬ 
lence  from  the  frontiers,  who  fell  the  forests,  and  who  are  everywhere 


13 


the  chief  producers  of  the  substantial  wealth  of  the  country.  They 
are  of  that  class  who  swing  the  hammer  and  drive  the  plane  ;  who 
plan  and  who  build  ;  and  who  are  found  at  the  awl  and  the  last,  at  the 
printing-press  and  the  loom ;  of  that  class  which  tend  the  locomotive 
and  guide  the  steamer  ;  which  constitute  our  mercantile  marine  ;  and 
which  fill  every  class  of  industrial  pursuits.  It  is  the  class  which  has 
produced  Franklin,  and  Rittenhouse,  and  Godfrey,  and  Fulton,  and 
Morse.  I  may  go  a  step  further,  and  say  it  is  the  class  which  pro¬ 
duced  Powers,  and  Cleavenger,  and  Greenough,  and  CrawFrd,  and 
Mills,  who,  as  with  the  chisel  of  Praxatiles,  could  almost  make  the 
marble  speak;  and  West,  who,  as  with  the  pencil  of  Raphael,  could 
almost  “make  the  brook  murmur  down  the  painted  landscape.” 

But,  to  take  leave  of  the  objections,  and  the  ingenious  gentlemen 
who  urge  them,  let  us  pass,  for  a  moment,  to  the  merits  of  the  bill.  It 
strikes  me,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  proper  point  from  which  to  survey 
this  subject,  is  that  which  enables  us  to  contemplate  it  as  a  great  ques¬ 
tion  of  policy  for  the  settlement  of  the  public  lands,  and  their  remo¬ 
val  from  the  balls  of  legislation.  The  unwieldiness  and  expense  of  the 
present  system,  and  the  degree  to  which  it  monopolizes  and  embar¬ 
rasses  congressional  action,  are  potent  reasons  for  a  change.  That  a 
change  must  be  made  at  no  distant  day7,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for 
these  evils  are  increasing  with  each  recurring  year.  In  the  new  dispo¬ 
sition  which  is  to  be  made  of  this  public  property,  I  desire  that,  first 
and  foremost,  the  actual  settler  should  be  remembered.  Nor  is  it 
just  that  you  should  regard  the  disposition  by  this  bill  as  a  gift.  It  is 
right  rather,  to  consider,  in  addition  to  the  consideration  of  fourteen 
and  one-half  cents  per  acre,  which  obviates  any  fancied  constitutional 
scruples,  and  covers  the  original  cost  of  purchase,  and  the  extinguish¬ 
ment  of  the  Indian  title,  the  five  years’  occupation  and  cultivation  as 
an  ample  compensation,  as  far  better  fulfilling  the  great  object  of  dis¬ 
posing  of  the  public  lands,  namely — of  settlement,  and  the  development 
of  their  resources — than  the  present  system  of  selling  at  SI  25  per  acre, 
to  persons  who  buy  with  no  intention  of  ever  occupying  the  lands 
themselves,  but  solely  to  profit  by  the  rise  in  value  consequent  upon  the 
improvement  of  the  neighboring  lands  by  the  labors  of  the  actual  settler. 

In  great  questions  of  policy,  it  has  been  well  said,  other  elements  are 
properly  to  be  considered,  besides  those  of  revenue ;  and  a  greater  ad¬ 
dition  is  thus  made  to  the  positive  wealth  of  the  country,  and  to  her 
means  of  defence,  than  it  is  possible  to  procure  by  means  of  revenue 
arising  from  the  sale  of  the  lands. 

We  find,  in  referringtothe  history  of  that  country  from  which  we  derive 
our  representative  system,  and  the  doctrines  of  the  common  law,  that  the 
tendency  of  the  best  minds  of  the  century  that  has  just  passed,  was  to  the 
conclusion,  as  a  distinct  principle,  that  government  lands  are  most  wisely 
administered  in  private  hands.  This  principle  has  received  emphatic 
recognition  from  one  of  her  wisest  statesmen.  It  was  Edmund  Burke, 
who, in  the  English  Parliament,  more  than  seventy  ymars  ago,  in  advocat¬ 
ing  a  policy,  in  its  important  aspects  similar  to  that  now  proposed,  ut¬ 
tered  that  remarkable  declaration  in  regard  to  the  alienation  of  the  Crown 
lands  ot  Great  Britain,  that  “they  should  be  thrown  into  the  mass  of 


14 


private  property,  by  which  they  will  come,  through  the  course  of  circula 
tion,  and  through  the  political  secretions,  into  well  regulated  revenue.” 

Once  more  let  us  revert  briefly  to  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  free  grants,  in  consideration  of  settlement,  which  we  now  pro¬ 
pose  to  erect  into  greater  prominence  in  our  land  policy.  In  a  speech 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  make  before  you  at  the  recent  session  in  ad¬ 
vocacy  of  this  measure,  I  was  at  pains  to  collect  from  our  colonial  his¬ 
tory  many  striking  instances  in  which,  for  the  express  purpose  of  set¬ 
tlement,  extensive  tracts  of  territory — portions  of  these  now  populous 
and  flourishing  States — were  granted  to  one  or  a  few  individuals  by 
governments  much  less  favorable  to  individual  rights  than  our  own. 
The  grants  now  proposed,  though  small  in  amount,  are,  in  part,  for  the 
same  recognised  purpose;  and,  while  the  land  subject  is  thereby  dis¬ 
posed  of  in  this  respect,  the  measure  has  this  incidental  recommenda¬ 
tion:  that  it  is  chiefly  the  laboring  class  of  our  people — those  for  whom 
no  direct  legislation  has  ever  been  had  hitherto — who  will  receive  the 
first  benefit  of  the  measure.  We  may  remember  that  it  has  been  often 
urged  as  an  argument  tor  a  high  protective  policy,  and  for  a  United 
States  Bank,  that  those  measures  would  “better  enable  the  rich  to  take 
care  of  the  poor.”  But  if  government  action  may  be  invoked  to  favor 
directly  the  interests  of  a  class  who  are  capitalists  and  proprietors,  in 
order  that  a  benefit  may  flow  indirectly  to  labor,  what  is  there  in  rea¬ 
son  to  prevent  us  from  conferring  the  same  benefit  more  surely  and 
directly?  But  the  bill  creates  no  odious  or  unjust  distinction;  and  the 
wealthiest  citizen,  alike  with  the  poorest,  becomes  entitled  to  the  same 
privileges  upon  the  conditions  of  settlement  and  cultivation. 

Possessing,  as  this  measure  does,  in  my  estimation,  an  importance 
far  above  the  fluctuating  influences  of  the  times,  I  did  not  hesitate  at  an 
early  day  to  give  to  it  the  whole  of  my  humble  influence.  I  have,  in 
consequence,  enjoyed  the  high  honor  o'f  seeing  it  twice  carrh  d  by  a 
decided  vote  through  this  the  popular  branch  of  the  National  Legisla¬ 
ture,  and  of  missing  only  by  a  little  the  seal  of  the  senatorial  approba¬ 
tion.  And  still  the  measure  stands  as  high  in  my  regards  as  ever.  I 
still  see  it  as  far-reaching  and  salutary  in  its  influence,  and  worthy  of 
the  most  earnest  attention  of  the  most  eminent  statesmanship.  It  is  still 
a  measure  promising  more  than  any  other  lo  impart  strength  to  the  State, 
by  unfolding  her  natural  resources,  and  by  providing  her  with  a  numer¬ 
ous  population,  attached  to  her  by  the  ties  of  gratitude — by  a  love  for 
the  soil  which  furnishes  them  with  a  subsistence  and  a  home,  and  which  is 
their  own — a  population  which  is  interested,  in  the  highest  degree,  in  the 
preservation  of  our  republican  institutions ;  and  whose  virtues  should  be 
kept  alive  as  the  true  vestal  fires,  which  will  preserve  in  its  integrity  the 
matchless  fabric  of  American  liberty  for  which  our  fathers  fought. 

It  has  been  ascribed  as  the  peculiar  danger  to  the  perpetuit}r  of  - 
Democratic  governments,  the  temptation  to  yield  to  measures  which 

Eromise  a  present,  but  temporary  benefit,  to  the  neglect  of  those  whose 
enefits,  though  ever  so  great  and  decided,  are  yet  remote.  The  con¬ 
sequence  is,  a  restless  and  excited  career,  terminating  early  in  national 
ruin.  The  remedy  is,  to  be  wise  in  time;  and  so  to  shape,  by  legisla¬ 
tion,  the  policy  of'  the  country,  as  that,  while  the  external  prosperity  of 
the  individual  may  be  promoted,  the  best  guarantees  may  be  provided 


15 


for  his  advancement  in  intelligence,  and  his  establishment  in  virtue. 
If  the  history  of  nations  teaches  anything  at  all,  it  is  the  emphatic  les¬ 
son  that  Democratic  institutions  depend  for  their  permanence  less  upon 
the  intelligence  than  upon  the  virtue  of  the  people.  Hence  the  wisdom 
of  those  laws  which  tend  to  encourage  such  dispositions  in  the  masses, 
and  hence  an  argument,  not  inferior  in  strength  to  any,  for  the  enact¬ 
ment  of  the  homestead. 

With  the  obstacles  which,  since  its  first  introduction  into  this  House 
as  a  distinctive  measure,  the  homestead  has  encountered,  and  the  strug¬ 
gles  through  which  it  has  passed,  we  are  all  familiar.  It  is  to  this 
body  that  belongs  the  honor,  which  will  perpetually  endear  them  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people,  of  the  initiative  in  recognising,  on  a  basis  the 
most  decided  and  liberal,  of  the  great  principle  of  cheap  homes. 

A  word  or  two  as  to  what  I  consider  will  be  the  most  important  effects 
-  of  the  measure.  One,  the  most  obvious,  and  not  the  least  important,  will 
be  the  removal,  in  a  great  measure,  of  this  subject  of  the  public  lands, 
which  has  been  so  long  the  fruit  of  bitter  contention,  from  the  nails  of  legis¬ 
lation,  and  the  arena  of  politics.  Let  us  pass  this  bill,  and  we  shall  prove 
that  governments  are  not  essentially  selfish  and  exacting — treating  the 
masses  as  subordinate  to  their  rulers,  and  consulting  much  more  the 
interests  of  favorites,  of  classes  and  corporations,  than  the  rights  of 
individuals,  but  that  they  are  capable  of  rendering  justice  to  all.  Pass 
this  bill,  and  you  will  strengthen  the  arm  of  the  government,  by  cre¬ 
ating  a  community  of  interest,  and  thus  strengthening  the  ties  which 
bind  together  the  government  and  the  citizen.  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  one  of 
his  letters  to  John  Jay,  remarked  that  “cultivators  of  the  earth  are  the 
most  valuable  citizens.  They  are  the  most  vigorous,  the  most  inde¬ 
pendent.  the  most  virtuous,  and  they  are  tied  to  their  country,  and 
wedded  to  its  liberty  and  interests,  by  the  most  lasting  bonds.” 

While  the  form  of  our  government  secures  equality  of  political  rights, 
this  measure  will  go  far  to  secure  equality  of  social  condition;  and  we  shall 
thus  witness  a  reversal  of  the  old  system,  by  which,  instead  of  exacting 
contributions  from  the  citizen,  the  government  assumes  the  truly  pater¬ 
nal  function  of  encouraging  him  by  its  bounty.  Let  us  pass  this  bill, 
Mr.  Speaker,  and  incalculable  are  the  benefits  which  we  shall  thus 
confer,  not  only  upon  the  present,  but  unborn  generations.  You  will 
thus  send  rejoicing  into  the  bosom  of  many  a  family  where,  before,  the 
discouragements  of  life  had  stifled  ambition  and  effort.  You  will  carry 
joy  to  thousands  of  firesides,  and  gladden  the  hearts  of  myriads  through¬ 
out  the  county.  Under  its  benign  operation,  the  unreclaimed  wastes 
in  the  great  basin  of  the  Mississippi  shall  spring  into  a  beauty  and 
loveliness  which  shall  be  truly  worthy  of  this  golden  age.  There, 
upon  the  sea-like  prairies,  and  far  away  upon  the  sources  of  the  Yel¬ 
lowstone,  the  Columbia,  the  Arkansas,  and  the  Colorado,  and  many  a 
stream  which  now  “  hears  no  sound  save  its  own  dashing” — under  the 
shadow  of  the  Stony  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  happy  settler 
will,  under  the  provisions  of  your  munificent  policy,  teach  the  wilder¬ 
ness  to  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  Under  the  hand  of  industry 
thus  wisely  fostered  and  encouraged,  waving  fields  will  enrich  the  land¬ 
scape  ;  lowing  herds  and  the  noise  of  the  arts  will  enliven  those  now 


16 


inaccessible  retreats ;  and  still  new  settlers  will  rise  up  to  avail  them¬ 
selves  of  this  provision,  and  to  bless  you  as  its  authors. 

Under  this  provision  of  the  homestead,  in  connexion  with  that  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  Pacific  railroad,  which  I  hope  will  be  so  extended  as  to 
reach  the  Pacific,  and  invite  to  our  shores  the  trade  of  Asia,  a  chain  of 
cities,  like  that  which  marked  the  course  of  the  India  trade  in  Asia 
and  Europe,  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Adriatic, 
will  stud  the  vast  expanse  between  theAtlantic*  and  Pacific  oceans; 
and  from  the  sources  of  the  Saskatchawan,  on  our  northern  border, 
even  unto  the  Isthmus,  will  be  eventually  gemmed  with  populous  and 
flourishing  communities.  Hand  in  hand  these  two  great  measures 
should  penetrate  the  wilderness.  The  forest  will  then  fall  before  them, 
and  the  fruits  of  nature,  springing  from  the  seed  deposited  by  the  hand 
of  industr}7,  will  everywhere  burst  the  sod.  Civilization  will  then 
prosecute  unimpeded  her  stately  march — bearing  with  her  the  virtues, 
the  arts,  the  graces,  and  refinements  of  life. 

By  passing  this  bill  you  extend  the  market  for  manufactures,  and 
press  into  further  requisition  the  Briarean  hands  of  commerce.  The 
locomotive  will  achieve  fresh  conquests  over  time  and  space,  and  the 
steamboat  w7ill  continue  to  find  new  waters  still  unbroken  by  its  re¬ 
volving  paddles,  and  with  which  its  tireless  strength  may  contend. 
Our  mercantile  marine,  multiplied  in  countless  numbers  under  this 
genial  policy,  will  groan  under  kindly  burdens,  and  whiten  all  the  ocean. 
The  world  will  be  our  tributaries,  and  our  resistless  energies  will  en¬ 
gage  us  in  a  prosperous  exchange  with  every  people  upon  earth.  There 
is  literally  no  limit  to  our  prosperity,  as  I  believe,  to  be  immensely  pro¬ 
moted  by  the  measure  under  consideration,  if  only  true  to  ourselves, 
and  to  that  matchless  bond  of  union  which  holds  us  together.  Let  us 
by  this  measure  temper,  by  the  thousand  healthful  influences  springing 
from  agricultural  pursuits,  the  luxurious  excesses  to  which  the  colossal 
achievements  of  our  commerce  and  manufactures  are  tending,  and  we 
may  rest  in  confidence,  that,  under  Providence,  the  restless  and  Titanic 
movements  of  the  age  will  eventuate  in  the  welfare  of  the  human  race. 

With  the  establishment  of  this  measure,  I  should  feel  that  my  career 
as  a  legislator  had  not  been  fruitless.  On  the  contrary,  I  should  be 
proud  of  the  accomplishment  of  a  measure  recommended  alike  by  wis¬ 
dom,  policy,  and  justice.  I  should  covet  no  higher  honor  than  to  be 
remembered  in  connexion  with  legislation  like  this.  I  may  say  further, 
in  view  of  resigning,  with  the  close  of  the  present  Congress,  my 
authority  into  the  hands  of  my  constituents,  that  I  am  satisfied  that  no 
subject  has,  within  the  period  of  my  membership  here,  come  under  our 
deliberations,  which,  by  its  importance  and  beneficial  character,  was  in 
any  degree  so  well  entitled  to  my  labors. 

Of  that  constituency  to  which  I  am  about  voluntarily  to  return,  I 
must  be  indulged  in  a  few  words  in  conclusion.  I  must  be  allowed  to 
express  my  proud  sense  of  the  honor  which  they  have  done  me  in  twice 
making  me  their  Representative  upon  this  floor,  as  well  as  for  that  good 
will  of  which  they  have  given  me  the  most  positive  and  distinguished 
testimonials.  I  am  proud  that,  upon  the  spot  which  knew  my  infancy, 
and  which  has  witnessed  my  struggles  in  the  battle  of  life,  I  have  been 
favored  by  the  choice  of  a  substantial,  an  intelligent,  an  industrious, 


17 


and  eminently  virtuous  community,  as  their  Representative  in  the  man¬ 
agement  of  public  affairs.  I  am  proud  to  represent  here  a  district, 
which,  in  the  noble  State  of  which  it  forms  a  portion,  owns  inferiority  to 
none.  Others  may  be  more  populous,  and  more  favored  by  commercial 
advantages,  but  none  surpasses  it  in  the  wealth  of  its  agricultural  and 
mineral  resources ;  in  its  capacity  to  sustain  a  great  population  ;  in 
picturesque  beauty,  and  in  the  worthy  character  of  its  people.  It  was 
in  this  district,  where  noble  mountains  stoop  their  blue  summits  to  fields 
of  golden  fertility  and  culture,  and  where  forest-crowned  hill  and  grassy 
valley  are  interspersed  with  delightful  diversity,  that  the  Father  of  his 
Country,  after  the  disastrous  field  of  Braddock,  made  among  the  first 
settleme  nts  upon  the  waters  ot  the  Youghiogheny.  It  was  there  on  the 
banks  of  the  Monongahela,  near  to  the  mountains  through  which  its 
waters  break  their  passage — a  river  than  which  no  sweeter  stream  of 
more  gentle  or  beauteous  flow,  threads  its  way  to  the  ocean — that 
Gallatin  found  his  chosen  retreat,  of  all  the  States  besides.  Learning 
has  found,  too,  in  its  bosom,  a  happy  abode,  and  colleges  of  reputable 
fame,  bearing  the  names  of  Washington,  of  Jefferson,  of  Madison,  and 
of  Greene,  are  sending  forth  continual  rays  of  intellectual  and  moral 
light  to  irradiate  and  beautify  the  popular  mind.  The  home  of  enter¬ 
prise  not  less  than  of  wealth  and  of  moral  excellence,  her  adventurous 
sons  are  found  pursuing  their  useful  and  thrifty  callings  along  the  Ohio 
and  all  the  rivers  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  from  the  mountains  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  To  my  cherished  home  in  that  lovely  valley,  I  am  now 
satisfied  to  resign  myself,  conscious  that  in  the  discharge  of  my  public 
duties  I  have  not  swerved  a  tittle,  whether  it  regards  part}7  obligations, 
the  interests  of  my  constituents,  or  the  welfare  of  my  country. 


